Enhancing Thinking Skills in Science Context Lesson 9

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Enhancing Thinking Skills in Science
ContextLesson 9

• Pseudoscience

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Activity 1

• Read the following news
• The Fifth Great Invention of China

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Activity 1

• A man from China called Wong Hung Shing claimed
  that he discovered the technology to convert
  water to fuel oil on 7 November 1983. He first
  prepared a chief formulation that contained a
  small amount of alkyne (a compound that can be
  burned) and then he added this chief formulation
  to a large amount of water (ratio 1/100,000
  volume/volume). A water-based fuel was claimed to
  be created that could be a substitute for petrol
  and the cost was very cheap. He said that the
  water-based fuel could be produced very easily by
  a simple machine. One tonne of the chief
  formulation could be produced in 20 minutes and
  one tonne of the chief formulation could in turn
  produce 10 tonnes or more of the water-based
  fuel.

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Activity 1

• The mass media reported Wongs invention and he
  demonstrated his technology to some famous
  scientists in China. Some presidents of the
  universities and senior government officials
  believed his invention doubt. Some mass media
  claimed Wongs invention as the Fifth Great
  Invention of China.

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Discussion questions

• 1) What was Wongs invention?
• 2) What were the evidences (or what seemed to be
  the evidences) that supported Wongs invention?
• 3) Were the evidences you read from the news
  sufficient to make you believe in Wongs
  invention? If not, what other evidences or
  information you would like to get hold of before
  you can believe in Wongs invention?

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1.What was Wongs invention?

• A very cheap water-based fuel produced by adding
  small amount of alkyne to large amount of water
  in the ratio 1100,000 (V/V).

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2. What were the evidences (or what seemed to be
the evidences) that supported Wongs
invention?

• He demonstrated his technology to some famous
  scientists in China. It did not tell whether
  those famous scientists believed his invention or
  not
• Some presidents of the universities and senior
  government officials believed in his invention
  without a doubt. The newspaper only told us that
  there were some people of high rank believed in
  Wongs invention but there were also some or many
  people who did not believe in Wongs invention
• Some mass media claimed Wongs invention as the
  Fifth Great Invention of China.
• We do not know the credibility of the mass
  media

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1. Were the evidences you read from the news
sufficient to make you believe in Wongs
invention? If not, what other evidences or
information you would like to get hold of before
you can believe in Wongs invention?

• Background of the inventor including his
  qualifications and career
• His experimental procedure and exact formulation
• Can we repeat his experiment?
• Can his invention be tested by famous
  universities, the government or accredited
  organisations?
• Any theoretical backup to his invention? Can we
  use existent scientific concepts, theories,
  principles or laws to explain the mechanism of
  his invention?

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Background of Wong Hung Shing

• Wong was born in China and received 4-years
  schooling. He had been a carpenter, soldier and a
  bus driver before he invented the water-based
  fuel.

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Commercial Interests / Corruptions / Flaws?

• Wongs invention was widely reported in the mass
  media. He flew to many places like Beijing,
  Shanghai to demonstrate his invention. He was
  then appointed the head of the newly established
  Energy Institute of Hei Long Jiang (???). In 1987
  he was commissioned RMB600,000 (???) to produce
  the water-based fuel at He Bei(??). However, more
  and more people became skeptical about his
  invention as time went by. He was finally caught
  in 1987 and sentenced to 10-year imprisonment.

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Reflection questions

• 1. Can you suggest some reasons why people
  believed in Wongs invention?
• 2. How do we know that Wongs invention is not
  real science? Explain your answer.

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Activity 2

• Read the following advertisement found in a
  newspaper

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• SUPER
• Water

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SUPER Water

• SUPER Company has a water filter that can convert
  tap water to SUPER WATER. SUPER Water can change
  ordinary water to smaller water clusters. These
  water clusters can pass easily through ion
  channels of cells. Hence, water can be absorbed
  faster than ordinary water molecules to keep our
  skin moist. The pH of the SUPER WATER is 9.5.
  Alkaline water can prevent people from
  constipation and long-term diarrhea.
• The dissolved oxygen content of SUPER WATER is
  also greater than that of ordinary tap water. The
  higher dissolved oxygen content can improve
  health because it can increase the metabolic rate
  of cells and hence enhancing the immunity of the
  body.

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SUPER Water

• SUPER WATER Filter was invented by an expert of
  water science, Dr. Kwun Lee. He is the chairman
  of International Research Laboratory on Water
  Science since 2001.
• The SUPER WATER filter has been accredited by
  NSF. The cost of the SUPER WATER Filter was
  HK6,000. The filter core needs to be changed
  every year and the cost is HK500.

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Change water into smaller water molecule clusters

SUPER WATER
Alkaline water
Accredited by NSF
Higher dissolved oxygen content
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Customers
Scientists
Salesman of the SUPER COMPANY

Representatives from the Consumer Council
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Task 1

• 1. Do you believe the claim? Suppose you are
• - a customer, explain whether you believe the
  claim of SUPER Water filter or not.
• - a salesman of the SUPER company, how will you
  promote the SUPER Water filter to your customers?
  
• - a scientist, tell people with scientific
  evidences or sound reasons whether you support
  the claim of SUPER Water filter or not.
• - a representative from the Consumer Council,
  give advice to the consumers on the claim of
  SUPER Company on SUPER water.

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Pseudoscience
knowledge
False
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Pseudoscience

• a set of beliefs about the world incorrectly
  thought to be scientific
• a certain method, theory, or practice that claims
  to be scientific but fails to adhere to the basic
  requirements of the scientific method.?
• more likely to be driven by ideological,
  cultural, or commercial goals.

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Characteristics of Pseudoscience

Claim not supported by scientific research
Contradict with existent science knowledge,
theories, principles, laws
Results not reproduced or verified Unclear
experimental procedure
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Characteristics of Pseudoscience
No concrete research findings from other
scientists in the following days support the
claim or theory
The findings are usually for commercial use
-selling questionable products for big profits
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• The company uses a lot of scientific terms
  (water clusters, ion channels, cells, pH,
  dissolved oxygen content, metabolic rate,
  immunity) to describe the special feature and
  function of its filter. The use of such
  scientific terms may make people think that the
  claim is scientific. However, how true the claim
  is needs further evidence or research findings
  from other scientists. Now there is no further
  information provided by the company.

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• The company told us that the product was invented
  by an expert of water science and the product has
  been accredited by an international organization
  NSF. We may check more information about the
  credibility of Dr Kwun Lee and the International
  Research Laboratory on Water Science by searching
  the internet. If Dr Kwun Lee has little or no
  research publication in high standard journals or
  the scale of the International Research
  Laboratory on Water Science is very small (say
  only one chairman and no other staff), the
  evidence of the claim would be weak.

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• Will the accreditation of NSF affect your
  decision to believe the claim of SUPER WATER
  Filter? (Remarks NSF stands for U.S. National
  Sanitation Foundation Standard) The accreditation
  of NSF is irrelevant to the claim of the product.
  Accreditation by NSF only shows that the
  production of the product matches a set of
  regulations set out by the NSF. However, NSF is
  NOT an organisation that is responsible to test
  or verify the claim of the product.

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Science Pseudoscience
The claim is testable and supported by scientific research recorded in high standard scientific journals. The claim is not testable and there is no support from scientific research recorded in high standard scientific journals
The finding does not usually contradict existing scientific knowledge, theories, principles and laws. The findings usually contradict existing scientific knowledge, theories, principles and laws.
The claim is not vague and the experimental procedure is clearly written and the result can be reproduced by other scientists The claim uses vague language and the result cannot be reproduced or verified. The exact procedure of the experiment is not clearly provided . Other people cannot figure out what has been done and how it was done.
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Science Pseudoscience
As time goes by, more research findings from other scientists give more evidences to support the claim or the theory. No concrete research findings from other scientists in the following days support the claim or the theory. Pseudoscience explains away or ignores falsifying evidence.
The product of the application of the science must be tested thoroughly before marketing. The findings are usually for selling commercial products with big profits.
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Examples of Pseudoscience

• Astrology
• Reasons that Astrology is not considered as real
  science are as follows?
• Astrological interpretations and prediction are
  not based on science theories, principles or laws
  but from astrological theories.?
• Astrologers do not conduct carefully controlled
  experiments to test astrological theories.?
• Astrologers use vague language to explain and
  predict things as well as to explain away wrong
  prediction. Some personality descriptions are
  very general and fit nearly everyone.

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Reference

• Gregory Bassham, et al., Critical Thinking A
  Students Introduction, 3rd ed. (New York
  McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2008)?
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